David Heyman Leaves Warner Bros. After 30 Years for Amazon MGM First-Look Film Deal
David Heyman, the producer behind the Harry Potter films, Barbie, and Wonka, has closed a multi-year first-look film deal with Amazon MGM Studios, ending a three-decade run at Warner Bros. Deadline reported the pact on 18 August 2026.
A first-look deal gives a studio the right of first refusal — Amazon MGM gets first dibs on any film Heyman decides to produce through his Heyday Films banner, across scripted and unscripted live-action and animation. His most recent Warner Bros. agreement had recently expired, making the move possible.
Heyman's Warner Bros. filmography is one of the most commercially significant in modern studio history. He produced all eight Harry Potter films, the three Fantastic Beasts entries, Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, Greta Gerwig's Barbie, and Paul King's Wonka. Outside the studio system he produced Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story, and the Paddington franchise. His upcoming slate includes Taika Waititi's Klara and the Sun, with Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams, and Luca Guadagnino's Artificial, starring Andrew Garfield.
One project the new deal does not cover: James Bond. Heyman is already producing Amazon MGM's forthcoming Bond film, directed by Denis Villeneuve and co-produced by Amy Pascal, but the franchise reset sits outside the first-look arrangement. The Villeneuve Bond will be the first instalment produced under Amazon's full creative control of the franchise, following the company's $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM Studios in 2022. Radio Times
Heyman is not severing every Warner Bros. tie. He remains an executive producer on the HBO Max Harry Potter television series, a production from HBO in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Deadline reported on 11 August that Nicholas Hoult has been cast as Gilderoy Lockhart for the show's second season.
The departure lands amid broader uncertainty at Warner Bros. The studio's talent roster has drawn scrutiny as Paramount's pending acquisition of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery advances. Quinta Brunson has already moved from WBTV to Disney's 20th Television when her overall deal expired.
What makes Heyman's move notable is the sheer weight of the filmography travelling with him. Thirty years at one studio is rare; the films produced in that time — Potter above all — built a pillar of Warner Bros.' release calendar. Where Heyday goes next, Amazon MGM now has the first call.
Heyman is represented by WME and the law firm Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.
